Reprinted  from  National  Municipal  Review,  Vol.  XI,  No.  7,  July,  1922. 


NEBRASKA’S  REORGANIZED  STATE 
ADMINISTRATION 

t 

BY  A.  E.  BUCK 


New  York  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research 

The  reorganization  in  1917  of  the  Illinois  state  administration  into 
j  v  -j  -  an  orjdwly  group  of  departments  has  already  been  copied  by  several 
states y  as  related  in  our  pamphlet  '^Administrative  Consolidation  in 
State  Governments.^^  The  results  in  Illinois  are  dealt  with  in  our 
pamphlet  "Administrative  Reorganization  in  Illinois.'^  The  Ne¬ 
braska  reorganization  of  1919  has  now  reached  the  point  where  the  re¬ 
sults  are  demonstrable^  as  set  forth  in  this  article  prepared  after  a 
visit  by  the  writer  to  Lincoln.  : :  : :  : :  : :  : :  : : 


irRArtV  dr  iriii 

War  lo  im 


One  of  the  most  unusual  and  sig¬ 
nificant  things  that  has  ever  happened 
in  American  state  administration,  took 
place  this  year  in  Nebraska.  Gover¬ 
nor  McKelvie  called  a  special  session 
of  the  legislature  during  the  closing 
days  of  January  to  cut  down  the  appro¬ 
priations  for  the  current  biennium  that 
began  July  1,  1921.  In  less  than  a 
year  after  the  legislature  had  made  the 
appropriations  for  the  biennial  period, 
the  governor  knew  that  nearly  one- 
tenth  of  the  total  sum  appropriated  for 
state  activities  could  be  saved.  In 
order  to  give  the  people  of  the  state  the 
advantage  of  an  immediate  saving  in 
the  reduction  of  their  taxes,  he  called 
the  legislature  together.  By  a  special 
message  he  instructed  that  body  to  re¬ 
peal  the  law  making  appropriations 
for  the  bienniuna  and  enact  an  appro¬ 
priation  bill  carrying  the  reductions 
recommended  by  him.  The  legislature 
followed  the  governor’s  recommenda¬ 
tions,  the  result  being  that  the  total 
appropriations  for  the  biennium  were 
reduced  from  $22,451,666.33  to  $20,- 
399,910.48— a  reduction  of  $2,051,755.- 
85.  This  reduction  made  it  possible 
to  cut  the  state  tax  levy  for  the  second 
year  of  the  biennium  from  three  to  two 
mills,  or  333^  per  cent. 


10.0  .1  iuiNT-) 

THE  1919  CODE 

What  enabled  Governor  McKelvie 
to  do  this,  and  how  did  he  get  the  facts 
upon  which  to  act?  The  answer  is 
found  in  the  operation  of  the  central¬ 
ized  and  responsible  system  of  admin¬ 
istration  established  by  the  civil  ad¬ 
ministrative  code.  This  code  was 
enacted  by  the  1919  legislature  and 
went  into  effect  in  August  1919.  It 
eliminated  twenty-four  statutory 
boards,  commissions,  and  agencies,  and 
consolidated  their  functions  under  six 
departments;  namely,  finance,  agricul¬ 
ture,  labor,  trade  and  commerce,  public 
works,  and  public  welfare.  The  code 
vests  the  civil  administration  of  the 
state  in  the  governor,  who  has  as  his 
chief  assistants  the  six  department 
heads.  These  heads  are  called  secre¬ 
taries  and  are  appointed  by  the  gov¬ 
ernor  with  the  consent  of  the  legis¬ 
lature.  While  they  are  appointed  for 
a  definite  term  of  two  years,  they  may 
be  removed  at  any  time  by  the  gov¬ 
ernor.  Each  secretary  receives  an 
annual  salary  of  $5,000.  All  subordi¬ 
nate  officers  and  employees  of  the 
code  departments  are  appointed  by  the 
department  heads  with  the  approval 
of  the  governor.  Departmental  regu- 


1 


2 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


lations  are  prepared  by  the  secretaries 
and  are  promulgated  with  the  gov¬ 
ernor’s  approval. 

The  code  administration  has  now 
been  in  actual  operation  for  almost 
three  years.  The  important  results 
that  have  been  brought  about  by  the 
application  of  the  code  during  this 
period  are:  (1)  the  integration  and 
departmentalization  of  related  activi¬ 
ties  of  the  state  government;  (2)  the 
application  of  the  cabinet  idea  to  the 
work  of  the  state  administration;  (3) 
the  establishment  of  a  budget  system 
with  uniform  financial  control  over 
state  expenditures;  (4)  the  installation 
of  a  central  accounting  system ;  (5)  the 
establishment  of  a  system  of  employ¬ 
ment  and  personnel  control;  and  (6) 
the  inauguration  of  a  state  purchasing 
system. 

RELATED  ACTIVITIES  DEPARTMEN¬ 
TALIZED 

The  co-ordination  of  related  activities 
of  the  state  government  is  one  of  the 
most  important  accomplishments  of 
the  code  system.  It  took  activities 
that  were  operating  independently  of 
each  other  but  that  were  part  of  the 
same  major  function  of  government 
and  brought  them  together  into  one 
department  with  a  single  administra¬ 
tive  head.  In  this  way  definite  re¬ 
sponsibility  has  been  fixed  for  each  field 
of  work.  This  arrangement  has  not 
only  greatly  increased  the  output  of  the 
services  rendered,  but  it  has  tended  to 
reduce  the  cost  of  operating  the  govern¬ 
ment.  All  departments  are  now 
located  at  the  state  capital,  whereas 
some  of  the  agencies  used  to  be  located 
at  various  points  over  the  state. 

One  of  the  most  important  of  the 
code  departments,  since  Nebraska  is 
mainly  an  agricultural  state,  is  the  de¬ 
partment  of  agriculture.  The  func¬ 
tions  of  five  independent  agencies 


[July 

whose  activities  related  to  agriculture 
were  consolidated  in  this  department. 
Not  only  was  the  work  of  these  agen¬ 
cies  brought  together  into  one  depart¬ 
ment,  but  it  was  systematized  and 
arranged  into  five  groups.  These 
groups  are  designated  as  (1)  bureau  of 
foods,  drugs  and  oils,  (2)  bureau  of 
animal  industry,  (3)  bureau  of  markets 
and  marketing,  (4)  bureau  of  game  and 
fish,  (5)  clerical  and  records  division. 
The  inspectional  work  is  a  very  im¬ 
portant  feature  of  this  department. 
It  includes  the  inspection  and  testing 
of  animals  for  diseases,  the  inspection 
of  dairy,  food  and  oil  products,  the 
inspection  of  farm  products  for  ship¬ 
ment,  and  the  testing  of  weighing  de¬ 
vices.  In  order  to  accomplish  this 
work,  the  department  inspectors  are 
usually  assigned  a  definite  section  of 
the  state  and  are  required  to  establish 
headquarters  at  the  most  convenient 
point  in  this  section.  Each  inspector 
is  required  to  send  to  the  department  a 
daily  report  of  work  performed,  and  a 
statement  of  his  routing  for  the  follow¬ 
ing  two  or  three  days  so  that  the  de¬ 
partment  can  communicate  with  him 
at  any  time  without  delay.  In  this 
way  the  department  keeps  a  complete 
record  of  the  work  of  all  its  field  men. 

Among  the  more  important  activi¬ 
ties  of  the  department  of  finance  are 
the  classification  and  control  of  ex¬ 
penditures,  the  installation  of  uniform 
accounting  methods,  the  purchasing  of 
supplies,  the  supervision  of  state  em¬ 
ployees,  and  the  preparation  of  the 
budget.  This  department  is  the  hub 
of  the  administrative  wheel.  As  a  re¬ 
sult  of  the  constant  control  that  it 
exercises  over  all  expenditures,  it  is 
continuously  gathering  information 
which  is  not  only  of  great  value  in  the 
day-to-day  operation  of  the  govern¬ 
ment  but  constitutes  the  basis  for  the 
preparation  of  the  budget.  The  work 
of  this  department  is  arranged  in  two 


B  ^5ti 

1922]  NEBRASKA’S  REORGANIZED  ADMINISTRATION  3 


divisions,  namely,  accounts  and  bud¬ 
get,  and  purchases  and  supplies. 

The  department  of  labor  administers 
the  workmen’s  compensation  laws,  en¬ 
forces  the  child  labor  laws  and  employ¬ 
ment  and  safety  regulations.  It  col¬ 
lects  and  publishes  labor  statistics  and 
maintains  a  free  employment  office. 
Its  work  is  divided  into  two  groups — 
division  of  compensation  and  investiga¬ 
tion,  and  division  of  free  employment. 

The  regulation  of  banking  and  in¬ 
surance  companies,  the  administration 
of  fire  prevention,  and  the  enforcement 
of  the  blue  sky  law  are  functions  of  the 
department  of  trade  and  commerce. 
It  also  collects  and  publishes  commer¬ 
cial  and  industrial  statistics.  Its  activ¬ 
ities  are  divided  into  (1)  bureau  of 
banking,  (2)  bureau  of  insurance,  (3) 
bureau  of  securities,  (4)  division  of  fire 
prevention,  (5)  division  of  hail  in¬ 
surance,  and  (6)  clerical  and  records 
division. 

The  department  of  public  welfare 
has  supervision  over  all  matters  relat¬ 
ing  to  public  health  and  social  welfare, 
issues  professional  licenses,  and  records 
vital  statistics.  Its  activities  are 
grouped  under  (1)  bureau  of  health, 
(2)  bureau  of  social  service,  (3)  bureau 
of  child  welfare,  (4)  bureau  of  examin¬ 
ing  boards,  and  (5)  division  of  athletics. 
The  head  of  the  department  appoints 
upon  the  recommendation  of  each  pro¬ 
fession  an  examining  board  for  that 
profession  which  board  prepares  and 
conducts  the  examinations  for  profes¬ 
sional  licenses.  Licenses  are  granted 
by  the  department  head  upon  the  rec¬ 
ommendation  of  these  boards.  All 
records  are  kept  in  the  department  at 
the  state  capitol. 

Supervision  over  the  construction  of 
highways,  bridges  and  public  improve¬ 
ments  is  exercised  by  the  department 
of  public  works.  For  the  supervision 
of  irrigation  the  state  is  divided  into 
two  water  districts  with  a  superintend¬ 
ent  at  the  head  of  each  district,  ap¬ 


pointed  by  the  department  head  and 
under  his  supervision.  This  depart¬ 
ment  licenses  the  motor  vehicles  of  the 
state.  It  is  organized  under  a  bureau 
of  roads  and  bridges,  a  bureau  of  irri¬ 
gation,  water  power  and  drainage,  and 
a  clerical  and  records  division.  At  the 
present  time  the  federal  government  is 
co-operating  with  this  department  in 
the  building  of  a  system  of  state  high¬ 
ways. 

This  system  of  departmentalization 
inaugurated  by  the  code  has  brought 
abler  men  into  the  service  of  the  state 
government.  Instead  of  more  than 
fifty  officials  giving,  in  some  cases,  only 
a  fraction  of  their  time  to  the  work  of 
the  state  government,  there  are  now  six 
men  giving  their  entire  time  to  the 
work.  These  men  are  paid  salaries 
commensurate  with  the  service  they 
are  rendering,  and  are  chosen  because 
of  their  experience  and  special  fitness 
for  the  particular  field  of  work  they  are 
directing.  It  is  not  possible  to  secure 
such  men  under  the  non-integrated 
form  of  state  government,  or  where  the 
department  heads  are  elected  by  the 
people. 

THE  CABINET  IDEA  APPLIED 

In  order  to  bring  about  the  greatest 
cooperation  between  the  work  of  the 
code  departments.  Governor  McKelvie 
introduced  the  cabinet  idea  that  works 
similar  to  that  feature  of  the  national 
government.  Whenever  important 
matters  arise  that  concern  the  general 
administrative  policy,  the  governor 
calls  a  meeting  of  the  department 
heads.  Sometimes  the  bureau  and  di¬ 
vision  chiefs  are  present  at  these  meet¬ 
ings  .  The  matters  under  consideration 
are  thoroughly  discussed  and  a  general 
and  uniform  policy  is  adopted.  Follow¬ 
ing  the  cabinet  meetings  written  in¬ 
structions  are  sent  to  each  department 
outlining  in  detail  the  application  of 
the  policy  to  the  work  of  that  depart- 


4 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


ment.  These  meetings  have  proved  a 
very  effective  means  of  defining  and 
harmonizing  the  general  administrative 
policy  which  under  the  old  system  of 
government  was  impossible.  They 
also  keep  the  governor  in  direct  touch 
with  the  work  of  the  different  depart¬ 
ments  and  enable  him  actually  to  lead 
in  the  administration  of  the  state’s 
affairs.  Besides,  weekly  reports  are 
filed  with  the  governor  by  each  of  the 
departments  telling  of  the  nature  and 
amount  of  work  performed  by  each 
bureau  and  division  of  the  department. 

While  the  people  look  upon  the  gov¬ 
ernor  as  the  chief  executive,  in  most 
states  he  is  not  in  a  position  to  direct 
the  administration  because  of  the  ram¬ 
shackle  organization.  Nebraska  has 
in  a  measure  overcome  this  diflSculty 
by  the  adoption  of  the  code  organiza¬ 
tion,  and  has  placed  the  governor  in  a 
position  where  he  is  more  nearly  re¬ 
sponsible  for  administrative  policies. 

BUDGET  CONTROL  ESTABLISHED 

The  code  makes  the  governor  re¬ 
sponsible  for  the  financial  policy  of  the 
state  by  requiring  him  to  submit  the 
budget  to  the  legislature.  The  budget 
is  prepared  by  the  department  of 
finance  from  information  gathered 
through  estimates  and  through  its 
audit  and  review  of  expenditures.  The 
first  state  budget  under  the  code  was 
prepared  by  the  department  of  finance 
and  submitted  by  Governor  McKelvie 
to  the  1921  legislature.  This  budget, 
a  document  of  150  pages,  gave  for  the 
first  time  in  the  history  of  the  state  a 
picture  of  the  government’s  finances, 
analyzed  its  various  activities,  told 
what  each  activity  spent  during  the 
preceding  biennium,  and  estimated 
what  each  activity  should  spend  during 
the  next  biennium.  Prior  to  this  the 
members  of  the  legislature  had  been 
without  accurate  and  detailed  informa¬ 
tion  upon  which  to  base  their  examina¬ 


[July 

tion  of  the  requests  for  appropriations. 

In  order  to  make  the  budget  pro¬ 
cedure  work  more  effectively,  the 
budget  provisions  of  the  code  were 
amended  by  chapter  210  of  the  1921 
laws.  Under  this  law  all  agencies  of 
the  state  government  must  report  their 
expenditures  each  month  to  the  depart¬ 
ment  of  finance.  The  department  of 
finance  can  investigate  any  agency  of 
the  state  government  to  determine 
whether  or  not  the  appropriations  are 
being  judiciously  and  economically  ex¬ 
pended.  This  department  also  has  the 
authority  to  recommend  and  require 
the  installation  of  a  uniform  system  of 
record  keeping  for  all  agencies  receiving 
appropriations  from  the  state.  In  this 
way  the  department  of  finance  can  de¬ 
termine  the  character  and  classification 
of  the  financial  information  that  is  sub¬ 
mitted  to  it  by  the  various  state  agen¬ 
cies.  This  uniformity  greatly  assists 
in  the  preparation  both  of  financial 
statements  and  the  budget.  Hereafter 
the  governor  will  submit  along  with  the 
budget  an  appropriation  bill,  contain¬ 
ing  all  the  budget  proposals  for  ex¬ 
penditures,  which  the  legislature  must 
pass  by  a  three-fifths  vote  should  it 
decide  to  increase  the  governor’s 
recommendations. 

Several  other  important  changes 
affecting  the  budget  procedure  were 
made  by  the  1921  laws.  A  uniform 
fiscal  year,  beginning  July  1st  and  end¬ 
ing  June  30th,  was  adopted.  Pre¬ 
viously  the  appropriation  year  and  the 
fiscal  year  of  the  state  had  been  differ¬ 
ent  and  neither  agreed  with  the  federal 
fiscal  year.  All  fees  are  now  required 
to  be  turned  into  the  state  treasury, 
instead  of  being  held  out  as  formerly 
and  used  by  the  agency  collecting  them. 
All  mill  taxes,  including  the  mill  tax 
for  the  state  university  and  normal 
schools,  have  been  repealed.  This 
means  that  in  the  future  expenditures 
will  be  by  definite  appropriations  made 
each  time  the  legislature  meets.  Prac- 


5 


1922]  NEBRASKA’S  REORGANIZED  ADMINISTRATION 


tically  all  special  funds  have  been  abol¬ 
ished  and  the  money  turned  into  the 
general  fund.  This  has  been  done  bex- 
cause  it  is  evident  that  special  funds 
restrict  not  only  legislative  authority 
but  also  administrative  control  and 
supervision.  Besides,  such  funds 
greatly  complicate  any  system  of 
accounting  and  reporting. 

The  department  of  finance  has  de¬ 
vised  an  expenditure  classification  that 
is  used  in  setting  up  the  accounts  and 
in  systematizing  the  information  for 
the  budget.  Appropriations  are  mado 
to  the  various  spending  agencies  in 
what  may  be  regarded  as  lump-sum 
appropriations.  Before  the  appropria¬ 
tion  to  any  spending  agency  becomes 
available  for  use,  the  agency  must  sub¬ 
mit  to  the  department  of  finance  an 
executive  allotment  of  the  amount  esti¬ 
mated  to  be  required  to  carry  on  the 
work  of  the  agency  during  the  next 
quarter  of  a  year  and  this  allotment 
must  receive  the  approval  of  the  gover¬ 
nor.  As  the  vouchers  for  the  agency 
pass  through  the  department  of  finance 
and  are  audited  for  payment,  the  ap¬ 
propriation  of  the  agency  is  encum¬ 
bered  by  this  department  with  the 
amount  of  each  voucher.  In  this  way 
the  department  of  finance  knows  when 
the  allotment  for  any  quarter  is  being 
overdrawn.  As  a  reserve  against  con¬ 
tingencies,  the  department  of  finance 
sets  aside  at  the  beginning  of  the  bien¬ 
nium  10  per  cent  of  the  appropriation 
to  each  agency  for  that  period  and  at 
the  end  of  each  quarter  retmns  one- 
eighth  of  this  amount  to  the  agency 
for  distribution  in  its  next  quarter’s 
allotment.  In  this  way  the  possibility 
of  the  legislature  having  to  make  defi¬ 
ciency  appropriations  every  time  it 
meets  is  reduced  to  a  minimum. 

The  allotment  system  makes  it  possi¬ 
ble  for  the  department  of  finance  to 
determine  long  before  the  end  of  the 
biennial  period  whether  or  not  there  is 
going  to  be  an  unused  surplus  in  the 


appropriations  and  approximately  how 
much  this  surplus  is  going  to  be  in  the 
case  of  each  spending  agency.  As  a  re¬ 
sult  of  the  operation  of  this  system  by 
the  department  of  finance,  the  gover¬ 
nor  was  supplied  with  the  facts  that 
enabled  him  to  call  the  special  session 
of  the  legislature  referred  to  in  the  first 
paragraph  of  this  article,  to  cut  down 
the  appropriations  for  the  current 
biennium. 

In  this  connection  mention  should 
be  made  of  the  very  valuable  work 
that  the  department  of  finance  is  doing 
in  educating  the  people  to  appreciate 
the  significance  of  the  budget  and  to 
understand  something  of  the  problems 
connected  with  financing  the  state  and 
local  governments.  This  department 
prepares  monthly  statements  relative 
to  the  state’s  finances  and  occasionally 
a  bulletin  on  the  distribution  of  taxes 
between  the  different  activities  of  the 
state  and  local  governments  and  sends 
these  to  the  newspapers  and  various 
organizations  throughout  the  state. 

central  accounting  system 

INSTALLED 

In  the  installation  of  a  central  ac¬ 
counting  system  Nebraska  has  made 
notable  progress  under  the  code  admin¬ 
istration.  The  department  of  finance 
has  not  only  established  a  uniform  sys¬ 
tem  of  financial  records  for  all  spending 
agencies  of  the  state,  but  practically 
all  bookkeeping,  especially  for  the  code 
departments,  is  done  by  this  depart¬ 
ment.  Under  this  procedure  the  ac¬ 
counting  control  is  not  only  centralized, 
but  it  becomes  unnecessary  for  each 
department  to  maintain  a  force  to  keep 
a  set  of  books  for  it.  Only  such  rec¬ 
ords  as  relate  directly  to  the  work  of 
the  department  are  now  kept  by  the 
code  departments.  Records  giving 
complete  information  relative  to  the 
appropriations  and  expenditures  of  all 
departments  are  kept  by  the  depart- 


6 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


ment  of  finance.  The  accounting  sys¬ 
tem  in  this  department  shows  at  all 
times,  for  each  department,  bureau  and 
division,  the  expenditures,  the  unex¬ 
pended  balances  and  the  free  and  un¬ 
encumbered  balances.  The  spending 
agencies  that  are  independent  of  the 
code  departments,  such  as  the  Univer¬ 
sity,  the  board  of  control,  and  the  con¬ 
stitutional  oflacers,  keep  their  own 
books.  However,  the  general  form  of 
these  books  is  prescribed  by  the  depart¬ 
ment  of  finance,  and  these  agencies 
must  report  monthly  to  the  depart¬ 
ment  of  finance  an  itemized  and  classi¬ 
fied  statement  of  all  their  expenditures. 

All  spending  agencies  are  required  by 
the  department  of  finance  in  making 
their  reports  to  distribute  their  ex¬ 
penditures  according  to  nine  standard 
expenditure  accounts.  These  accounts 
and  the  sub-groups  under  each  have 
been  built  up  largely  on  an  object  basis 
and  are  used  by  the  department  of 
finance  for  budget -making  as  well  as 
accounting  purposes.  It  is  possible  by 
the  use  of  this  classification  not  only 
to  determine  when  expenditures  have 
been  properly  made,  but  also  to  com¬ 
pare  the  expenditures  of  different  de¬ 
partments  and  institutions. 

As  has  already  been  pointed  out,  the 
department  of  finance  exercises  the 
powers  of  pre-audit.  Every  depart¬ 
mental  expenditure,  before  it  is  con¬ 
tracted,  must  have  the  approval  of  this 
department.  This  approval  involves 
not  only  passing  upon  the  availability 
of  funds  to  meet  the  expenditure,  but 
also  the  advisability  of  making  the 
expenditure.  Upon  approval  the  ap¬ 
propriation  of  the  department  making 
the  expenditure  is  encumbered  by  the 
amount  of  the  proposed  expenditure. 
After  the  expenditure  has  been  made  a 
voucher  signed  by  the  department  head 
is  sent  to  the  department  of  finance 
where  it  is  checked  and  approved  be¬ 
fore  going  to  the  auditor’s  office.  The 
auditor,  an  elective  constitutional 


[July 

officer,  approves  all  vouchers  as  to  the 
legality  of  the  expenditures.  A  useless 
step  in  the  procedure  is  the  requirement 
that  the  secretary  of  state  likewise 
approve  all  vouchers  before  payment 
by  the  state  treasurer. 

The  centralization  of  the  accounting 
control  in  the  department  of  finance 
is  not  only  necessary  to  the  proper 
carrying  out  of  the  budget  plan,  but 
also  to  the  intelligent  preparation  of  the 
budget.  By  this  means  the  staff  that 
prepares  the  budget  for  the  governor 
is  kept  in  daily  touch  with  the  expendi¬ 
tures  of  all  agencies,  and  the  facts  that 
are  essential  to  the  criticism  of  the  esti¬ 
mates  are  gathered  from  day  to  day. 

EMPLOYMENT  CONTROL  ESTABLISHED 

The  department  of  finance  has 
developed  a  rather  unique  system  of 
employment  control.  While  it  does 
not  conduct  examinations  to  test  the 
fitness  of  individuals  to  enter  the  state 
service,  as  civil  service  commissions  do, 
it  is,  nevertheless,  more  effective  in  its 
management  and  control  of  state  em¬ 
ployees  than  most  of  the  civil  service 
commissions.  Any  person  desiring  to 
enter  the  state  service  must  fill  out 
and  file  with  the  department  of  finance 
a  blank,  stating  position  desired,  edu¬ 
cational  and  experience  qualifications, 
age,  marital  relations,  sex,  name  and 
address  of  last  employer,  last  position 
and  salary  earned,  and  the  names  and 
addresses  of  at  least  three  persons  as 
references.  The  department  of  finance 
then  asks  each  one  of  the  references  to 
fill  out  a  blank  that  contains  a  number 
of  questions  about  the  character,  edu¬ 
cation  and  general  qualifications  of  the 
person  to  fill  the  position.  If  the  per¬ 
son’s  record  is  satisfactory,  he  is  rec¬ 
ommended  for  appointment  to  the 
position  by  the  department  of  finance. 
The  appointment  is  made  by  the  de¬ 
partment  head  with  the  approval  of  the 
governor.  After  the  appointment  has 


1922]  NEBRASKA’S  REORGANIZED  ADMINISTRATION 


7 


been  made  a  permanent  card  record 
for  the  employee  is  filed  in  the  depart¬ 
ment  of  finance.  Any  change  in  the 
salary  rate  of  the  employee  must  be 
approved  by  the  department  of  finance. 
Before  the  adoption  of  the  code  there 
was  practically  no  record  of  the  state’s 
employees. 

Each  employee  in  the  different 
bureaus  and  divisions  of  the  code  de¬ 
partment  is  required  to  sign  a  daily 
time  report,  giving  the  time  of  arrival, 
the  time  at  lunch,  and  the  time  of  leav¬ 
ing.  All  field  employees  mail  daily 
time  reports  to  the  departments. 
These  reports  are  collected  by  each 
department  and  are  sent  each  month 
together  with  a  summary  to  the  depart¬ 
ment  of  finance.  The  summary  shows 
the  number  of  days  during  the  month 
that  each  employee  has  worked  less 
than  eight  hours,  the  number  of  days 
each  has  worked  over  eight  hours,  and 
the  number  of  days  and  time  that  each 
has  been  absent  without  pay,  on  sick- 
leave,  or  on  vacation.  As  a  result  the 
department  of  finance  has  a  work  re¬ 
port  of  every  person  employed  in  the 
code  departments.  From  these  re¬ 
ports  the  department  of  finance  makes 
up  each  month  the  payrolls  of  all  the 
code  departments.  Under  this  system 
the  department  of  finance  has  the  origi¬ 
nal  signature  of  each  employee  for  each 
day  he  or  she  has  been  paid  during  the 
month  or  year.  These  records  are  also 
used  in  making  promotions. 

Prior  to  the  adoption  of  the  code 
there  was  little  relation  between  the 
duties  performed  and  the  pay  received 
by  the  employees  of  the  various  boards. 
The  department  of  finance  has  worked 
out  a  salary  standardization  plan  that 
provides  for  standard  titles  of  positions 
and  uniform  salaries  for  the  same  class 
of  work  in  all  of  the  code  departments. 
It  fixes  a  minimum  salary  rate  with  ad¬ 
vancement  to  a  higher  rate  at  specified 
times,  and  promotion  from  a  lower  to  a 
higher  grade  of  service  upon  the  recom¬ 


mendation  of  the  department  head. 

PURCHASING  SYSTEM  INAUGURATED 

The  division  of  purchases  and  sup¬ 
plies  in  the  department  of  finance  buys 
oflSce  supplies  for  all  agencies  of  the 
state  government  except  the  University 
and  normal  schools.  Prior  to  the 
adoption  of  the  code  each  agency  pur¬ 
chased  its  supplies  in  small  quantities 
at  frequent  intervals.  Under  this 
scheme  the  various  agencies  frequently 
spent  more  than  was  necessary,  proper 
scrutiny  could  not  be  exercised  on  the 
part  of  the  state,  and  favoritism  was 
often  shown  in  the  selection  of  vendors. 
Now,  every  department  and  agency 
must  file  a  requisition  for  supplies  with 
the  purchasing  agent.  After  this  req¬ 
uisition  has  been  approved  by  the 
accountant  of  the  department  of  fi¬ 
nance  to  the  effect  that  there  is  suffi¬ 
cient  unencumbered  balance  in  the 
appropriation  of  the  department  or 
agency  to  pay  for  the  supplies,  the  pur¬ 
chasing  agent  makes  up  a  schedule, 
combining  like  classes  of  supplies  from 
several  requisitions,  and  solicits  bids 
from  dealers.  An  order  is  then  placed 
with  the  successful  bidder  by  the  pur¬ 
chasing  agent.  A  copy  of  this  order  is 
retained  by  the  purchasing  agent,  a 
copy  is  sent  to  the  accounting  division 
of  the  department  of  finance,  and  two 
copies  are  sent  to  the  department  or 
agency  receiving  the  goods.  The  de¬ 
partment  or  agency  files  one  copy  of 
this  order  with  its  copy  of  the  requisi¬ 
tion  and  checks  the  other  when  the 
goods  are  received,  returning  the  latter 
copy  to  the  purchasing  agent.  Pay¬ 
ment  for  the  goods  is  then  authorized 
by  the  purchasing  agent  upon  a  voucher 
that  is  approved  by  the  head  of  the  de¬ 
partment  or  agency  receiving  the  goods 
and  by  the  secretary  of  finance  before 
going  to  the  state  auditor. 

The  purchasing  agent  buys  and  con¬ 
trols  the  use  of  mileage  books  that  are 


3  0112  061967003 


8 

furnished  to  the  several  employees  in 
the  different  departments  whose  work 
necessitates  their  traveling  over  the 
state.  Each  employee  must  file  with 
the  purchasing  agent  a  report  showing 
the  trips  that  are  made  with  the  mile¬ 
age.  In  this  way  the  department  of 
finance  has  on  file  a  complete  record  of 
all  mileage  books  used  by  the  code  de¬ 
partments.  The  purchasing  division 
does  mimeographing  and  addresso- 
graphing  for  the  different  departments 
and  agencies  and  charges  them  only 
for  the  material  and  labor  involved. 

All  printing  contracts  are  let  by  the 
purchasing  agent.  In  the  printing  of 
reports  each  department  must  furnish 
a  manuscript  copy  of  its  report  to  the 
purchasing  agent  who  goes  over  it  care¬ 
fully  to  see  if  it  contains  any  unneces¬ 
sary  or  repeated  matter.  He  may  re¬ 
quire  the  department  to  eliminate  such 
matter  from  the  report  before  he  con¬ 
tracts  for  the  printing.  The  contract 
is  let  upon  the  basis  of  cost  per  page, — 
the  character  of  the  matter,  that  is, 
whether  it  is  descriptive  or  statistical, 
being  the  determining  factor  in  the 
page  cost.  All  printing  must  be  done 
and  the  reports  delivered  within  thirty 
days.  Formerly,  it  was  not  unusual 
for  the  printing  of  reports  to  be  delayed 
after  the  contracts  had  been  let  for  a 
period  of  from  one  to  four  years. 

It  is  estimated  that  this  system  of 
centralized  control  of  purchasing  and 
printing  has  resulted  in  a  net  annual 
saving  to  the  state  of  about  20  per  cent. 
The  operation  of  the  system  has  also 
contributed  to  the  success  of  the  budget 
system  by  establishing  control  over 
expenditures  for  supplies. 

******* 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  consti¬ 
tutional  convention  of  1920,  instead  of 
reducing  the  number  of  administrative 
oflScers  and  boards  under  the  constitu¬ 
tion,  saw  fit  to  add  four  more  such 
agencies,  making  a  total  of  sixteen. 


[July 

Thus  the  present  administrative  sys¬ 
tem  includes  sixteen  constitutional  offi¬ 
cers  and  boards,  six  statutory  boards, 
and  the  six  departments  created  by 
the  code. 

The  revised  constitution  of  1920  con¬ 
tains  a  provision  that  gives  the  legisla¬ 
ture  the  power  to  eliminate  the  heads 
of  the  code  departments  and  to  place 
the  work  of  these  departments  under 
the  constitutional  administrative  offi¬ 
cers.  If  this  were  done,  it  would  be  a 
decided  step  backward.  It  would 
practically  amount  to  setting  up  a  eom- 
mission  form  of  government  for  the 
state.  The  heads  of  the  departments 
would  then  be  elected  just  as  the  gov¬ 
ernor  is  and  there  could  be  no  central¬ 
ized  or  responsible  supervision  of  the 
administration.  As  a  result  the  state 
would  have  six  or  eight  governors  in¬ 
stead  of  one.  One  of  the  serious  and 
inevitable  defeets  of  this  arrangement, 
even  worse  than  under  the  old  scheme 
of  organization  that  existed  before  the 
adoption  of  the  code,  would  be  the 
tendency  of  each  one  of  these  inde¬ 
pendent  administrative  officers  to  mag¬ 
nify  his  own  problems  and  importance, 
constantly  to  expand  his  activities, 
and  to  work  for  and  spend  as  large 
appropriations  as  he  could  obtain  in 
competition  with  the  other  administra¬ 
tive  officers.  There  would  be  few  in¬ 
centives  to  real  economy  and  no  estab¬ 
lished  avenues  of  mutual  interest  and 
co-operation. 

Under  the  code  system  of  organiza¬ 
tion  the  departments  have  nothing  to 
gain  by  competing  with  each  other  for 
appropriations.  Co-operation  takes 
the  place  of  interference.  The  result — 
a  most  important  one — is  the  develop¬ 
ment  of  the  idea  of  unity  in  administra¬ 
tion.  The  worth  of  the  code  system 
has  already  been  clearly  demonstrated 
by  its  successful  operation.  Undoubt¬ 
edly,  the  next  step  should  be  in  the 
direction  of  strengthening  and  extend¬ 
ing  this  system. 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


